vapour of the burn'd excrement and with that vapour the atoms of fire which accompanied it grow so chang'd and inflam'd that the Dog having always a Fever upon him and not being able to take any nourishment his flancks cling together and he dies 'T were dangerous to divulge this experience among such persons as are subject to make use of any thing for doing of miscief for the same effect would be wrought upon Mens Bodies if one should try the conclusion upon their excrements There hap'ned a remarkable thing to this purpose to a neighbor of mine in England the last time I was there He had a very pretty Child whom because he would have always in his eye he kept the Nurse in his House I saw him often for he was a stirring man and of good address and I had occasion to use such a man One day I found him very sad and his Wife a weeping wherof demanding the reason they told me that that their little Child was very ill that he had a burning Fever which inflamed him all over as appear'd the redness of his face that he strove to go to Stool but could do little and that little he did was cover'd with blood and that he refused also to suck And that which troubled them most was that they could not conjecture how this indisposition come for his Nurse was very well her milk was as good as could be wished and in all other things there was as much care had of him as could be I told them that the last time I was with them I observ'd one particularity wherof I thought fit to give them notice but somthing or other still diverted me 't was this that the Child making a sign that he was desirous to be set on his feet let fall his excrements on the ground and his Nurse presently took the Fire-shovel and cover'd them with embers and then threw all into the fire The mother began to make her excuses that they were not more careful to correct this ill habit of the child telling me that as he advanc'd in years he should be corrected for it I replied that 't was not for this consideration that I spake of it but searching after the reason of her childs distemper and consequently to find some remedy And thereupon I related to them the like accident which had hap'ned two or three three years before to a child of one of the most illustrious Magistrates of the Parliament of Paris who was bred up in the House of a Doctor of Physick of great reputation in the same Town I told them also what I have now related to you touching the excrements of Dogs And I made reflections to them upon a thing they had often heard and which is often practised in our Country viz. that In the Villages which are always dirty in the winter if there happens to be a Farmer any thing more neat than others and that keeps the approaches to his House cleaner than his neighbours do the Boys use to come thither in the night time or when it begins to be dark to discharge their bellies there because in such Villages there is not much commodity of easments besides that in such clean places the knaves are out of danger to sink into the dirt which otherwise might rise up higher than their shooes The good houswives in the morning when they open their doors and find such an ill-favour'd smell use to be transported with choller But they who are acquainted with this trick go presently and make red hot a Spit or Fire-shovel and thrust it so into the excrements and when 't is quencht they heat it again and again to the same purpose Mean while the Boy that had plaid the sloven feels a kind of pain and collick in his bowels with an inflammation in his fundament and a continual desire to go to Stool and he is hardly quit of it till he suffer a kind of Feaver all that day which makes him return thither no more And these women to be freed from such affronts pass among the Ignorant for Sorceresses and to have made a compact with the Divel since they torment people in that fashion without seeing or touching them This Gentleman did not disallow those things I have already told you but was confirm'd farther when I wish'd him to look farther into the fundament of his child for without doubt he should find it red and inflamed and perhaps full of pimples and excoriated Not long after this poor chilâ— grew ill and with much pain and pitiful cries voided some small matter which in lieu of casting into the fire or covering it with embers I caused to be put into a bason of cold water and set in a cool place This was continued to be done every time the child gave occasion and he began to amend the very same hour and within four or five daies became perfectly well recover'd But least I trespass too much upon your patience I 'le hold you no longer but with one experiment more very familiar in our Countrey and then I will summ up all that hath been said to make you see the force and import of this whole Dâ—scourse We have in England as I touch'd before excellent Pasturage for the feeding and fatting of Caâ—tle so abundant thâ—â— it falls out often the Oxen come to acquire such excess of â—at that it extends it self in a great quantity to their legs and feet and even hoofs which many times causes impostumes in the of their feet that comes to swel and get a core full of putrified matter so that the Beast is not able to go The Owners observing that though the Beef be never the worse for the Shambles yet they are damnified therby because not being able to bring them to London where the grand market is for fat Beefs through all England as Paris is for Auuergne Normandy and other provinces of France they are constrain'd to kill them up on the place where their flesh is not worth half the price they might have got in London the Owners I say have recourse to this remedy viz. Observing where the Oxe Cow or Heifer fix upon the Ground the sick foot at first rising up in the morning that very turf with the print of the foot on it they cut up and hang upon a tree or hedg lying open to the North wind And that wind blowing upon the turf the Beast comes to be cured within three or four daies very perfectly but if one should pâ—t that turf towards the South or South west wind the foot would grow worse These circumstances wil not seem superstitioâ—s to you when you shall have consider'd how that by the repose of the night the corrupt matter or core uses to gather in a great quantity under the foot of the Beast which being set on the ground in the morning presses forth the impostume the matter wherof sticks to the place Now this turf of Earth being exposed in some
not to be feared that the continuity of the Water will break ascending this scale of chords or that it will recoil backwards for those little ladders so easy to be mounted render the ascent facile and the woolly fibres of every thrid seem to reach their hands to help them up at every step and so the facility of geting up joyn'd with the fluidness of the water and the nature of quantity which tends always to the uniting of substances and bodies which it clothes when there occurs no other predominant cause to break and divide it causes that the water keeps it self in one piece and passes above the brink of the pot After that its voâ—age is made more easie for it follows its natural tendence always downwards And if the end of the cloth hangs lower without the pot than the surface of the water within the water drops into the ground or some Vessel placed underneath as we see a chord being hung upon a pully the longest and heaviest end falls upon the ground and carries away the shortest and lightest drawing it over the pully But if the end of the cloth without the pot were horizontal with the surface of the water and hung no lower than it the water would be immoveable as the two sides of a Ballance when there 's equal weight in both the scales And if one should pour out part of the water that is in the pot so that the superficies grow lower than the end of the cloth without in that case the ascending water becoming more heavy than the descendant on the other side without the pot it would call back that which was gone out before and ready to fall and would make it thrust on and return to its former pace and enter again into the pot to mingle with the water there You see then this mystery which at first was surprizing displaid and made as familiar and natural as to see a stone fall down from the air 'T is true that to make a demonstration thereof exact and compleatly rigorous we must add other circumstances which I have done in another Discourse wherein I expressly treated of this subject But that which I now say is sufficient to give a taste how this so notable Attraction is performed The other Attraction by Fire which draws to it the ambient air with the small bodies therein is wrought thus The Fire acting according to its own nature which it to push on a continual river or exhalation of its parts from the center to the circumference carries away with it the air adjoyned and sticking to it on all sides as the water of a river trains along with it the earth of that channel or bed through which it glides For the air being humid and the fire dry they cannot do less than embrace and hug one another But there must new air come from the places circumjacent to fill the room of that which is carried away by the fire otherwise there would a vacuity happen which nature abhors This new air remains not long in the place it comes to fill but the fire which is in a continual carreer and emanation of its parts carries it presently away and draws other and so there is a peâ—petual and constant current of the air as long as the action of fire continues We daily see the experience hereof For if one makes a good fire in ones Chamber it draws the air from the door and windows which though one would shut yet there be crevices and holes for the air to enter and coming near them one shall hear a kind of whistling noise which the air makes in pressing to enter 'T is the same cause that produces the sound of the Organ and Flute And he who would stand between the crevices and the fire should find such an impetuosity of that artificial wind that he would be ready to freeze while he is ready to burn the other side next the fire And a Wax-candle held in this current of wind would melt by the flame blown against the wax and waste away in a very short time wheras if that Candle stood in a calm place that the flame might burn upward it would last much longer But if there be no passage wherby the air may enter into the Chamber one part then of the vapor of the wood which should have converted to flame and so mounted up the funnel of the Chimney descends downward against its nature to supply the defect of air within the said Chamber and fills it with smoke but at last the fire choaks and extinguishes for want of air Whence it comes to pass that the Chymists have reason to say that the air is the life of fire as well as of animals But if one puts a Bason or Vessel of water before the fire upon the hearth there will be no smoke in the Chamber although it be so close shut that the air cannot enter for the fire attracts part of the water which is a liquid substance and easie to move out of its place which aquatic parts rarifie themselves into air and therby perform the functions of the air This is more evidently seen if the Chamber be little for then the air which is there pen'd in is sooner rais'd up and carried away And by reason of this attraction they use to make great fires where there is houshold-stuff of persons that dyed of the Pestilence to dis-infect it For by this inundation of attracted air the fire as it were sweeps the walls floor and other places of the Chamber and takes away those little putrified sharp corrosive and venomous bodies which were the infection that adhered to it drawing them into the fire where they are partly burnt and partly sent up into the Chimney accompanied with the atomes of the fire and the smoke 'T is for this reason that the great Hippocrates who groped so far into the secrets of Nature dis-infected and freed from the Plague a whole Province or entire Region by causing them to make great fires every where Now this manner of attraction is made not only by simple fire but by that which partakes of it viz. by hot substances and that which is the reason and cause of the one is also the cause of the other For the Spirits or ignited parts evaporating from such a substance or hot body carry away with them the adjacent air which must necessarily be supplied by other air or some matter easily rariâ—iable into air as we have spoken of the bason and tub of water put before the fire to hnder smoke 'T is upon this foundation that Physicians ordain the application of Pigeons or Puppy's or some other hot Animals to the soles of the feet or the hand-wrists or the stomachs or navils of their Patients to extract out of their bodies the wind or ill vapours which infect them And in time of contagion or universal infection of the air Pigeons Cats Dogs with other hot Animals which have continually a
great transpiration or evaporation of Spirits use to be killed because through attraction the Air taking the room of the Spirits which issue forth by the evaporation the pestiferous atomes which are scatter'd in the air and accompany it use to stick to their feathers skins or furs And for the same reason we see that Bread coming hot out of the Oven put upon the Bung draws to it the Must of the Cask which would spoil the Wine and that Onions and such hot bodies which perpetually exhale fiery parts as appears by the strength of their smel are quickly poison'd with infectious airs if they be exposed to them and 't is one of the signs to know whether the whole mass of the air be universally infected And one might reduce to this head the great attraction of air by calcin'd bodies and particularly by Tartar all ignited by the violent action of the fire which is crowded and encorporated among it's Salt I have observed that it attracts to it nine times more air than it self weighs For if one expose to the air a pound of Salt of Tartar well calcin'd and bâ—rnt it will â—ffâ—rd ten pound of good Oil of Tartar drawâ—â—g to it and so incorporating the circumjacent air and that is mingled with it as it befell that Oâ—l of Tartar which Monâ—ir Fâ—rrier made me wherof I spake before But methâ—nks all this is but little compared to the attraction of air by the body of a certain Nâ—n at Rome wherof Peâ—rus Servius â—râ—aâ— the Eâ—ght's Physician makes mention in a Book which he hath published touching the marvailous accidents which he observ'd in his time Had I not such a vouchy I durst not produce this History although the Nun her self confirm'd it to me and a good number of Physicians assured me of the truth thereof There was a Nun that by excesse of fasting watching and mental orisons was so â—eaâ—ed in her body that she seem'd to be all on fire and her bones dryed up and calcin'd This heat then this inâ—ernal fire drawing the air powerfully this air incorporated within her body as it uses to do in Salt of Tartar and the passages being all open it got to those parts where there is most serosity which is the bladder and thence she rendred it in water among her Urine and that in an incredible quantity for she voided during some Weeks more than two hundred pounds of Water every four and twenty hours With this notable example I will put an end to the experiments I have urged to prove and explicate the attrâ—ction made of air by hot and igâ—ited bodies which are of the nature of fire My Sixth Principle shall be that When fire or some hot body attracts the Air and that which is within the Air if it happens that within that air there be found some dispersed aâ—oms of the same nature with the body that draws them such atoms are more powerfully attracted than if they were Bodies of a different nature and they stay stick and mingle more willingly with the body which draws them The Reason hereof is the Resemblance and Sympathy they have one with the other If I should not explicate wherein this Resemblance consisted I should expose my self to the same censure and blame as that which I taxed at the beginning of my discourse in those who spake but lightly and vulgarly of the Powder of Sympathy and such marvels of Nature But when I shall have cleared that which I contend for by such a resemblance and conveniency I hope then you will rest satisfied I could make you see that there are many sorts of Resemblances which cause an Union between bodies but I will content my self to speak here only of three signal ones The first Resemblance shall be in Weight whereby bodies of the same degree of heaviness assemble together The reason wherof is evidenâ— For if one body were lighter it would occupy a higher situation than the heavier body as on the contrary if a body were more weighty it would descend lower than that which is less heavy but both having the same degree of heavâ—ness they keep company together in equilibrio As one may see by experience in this gentile example which some curious spirits use to Produce to make us understand how the Four Elements are situated one above the other according to their weight They put in a vial the spâ—rit of Wine tinctur'd with red to represent the Fire the spirit of Turpentine tinctur'd with blew for the Air the spirit of Water tinctur'd with green and represent the element of Water And to represent the Earth the Powder of some solid Metal enamell'd you see them one upon the other wâ—thout mixâ—ng and if you shake them together by a violent◠〈◊〉 you shal see a Chaos such a confusion that it wil seem there 's no particular atoms that belong to any of those bodies they are so hudled pel mel altogether But cease this agitation and you shall see presently every one of these four substances go to its natural place calling again labouring to unite all their atoms in one distinct mass that you shall see no mixture at all The second Resemblance of bodies which draw one another and unite is among them which are of the same degree of Rarity and Density The nature and effect of Quantity is to reduce to unity all things which it finds if some other stronger power as the differing substantial Form which multiplies it do not hinder And the reason is evident For the â—ssence of Quantity is Divisibility or a Capacity to be divided that is to be made Many whence may be inferr'd that Quantity it self is not-many 't is therfore of it self and in its own nature one continued extension Seeing then that the nature of Qâ—antity in general tends to Unity and Continuity the first differences of Quantity which are Rarity and Density must produce the same effect of Unity and Continuity in those bodies which participate in the same degree of them For proof whereof we find that water unites and incorporates it self strongly and easily with water oil with oil spirit of wine with spirit of wine but water and oil will hardly unite nor mercury with the spirit of wine and so other bodies of differing density and tenuity The third Resemblance of bodies which unites and keeps them strongly together is that of Figure I will not serve my self here with the ingenious conceit of a Great Personage who holds that the continuity of Bodies results from some smal hooks or clasps which keep them together and are different in bodies of a differing nature But not to extend my self too diffusively in every particularity I will say in gross as an apparent thing that every kind of body affects a particular Figure We see it plainly in the several sorts of Salt peel and stamp them separately dissolve coagulate and change them as long as you please they come again alwayes to their own natural figure
because he would think it peradventure either ineffectual or superstitious He reply'd The wonderful things which many have related to me of your way of medicament makes me nothing doubt of its efficacy and all that I have to say to you is comprehended in the Spanish Proverb Hagase el milagro y hagalo Mahoma Let the miracle be done though Mahomet do it I ask'd him then for any thing that had the blood upon it so he presently sent for his Garter wherewith his hand was first bound and as I call'd for a Bason of water as if I would wash my hands I took a handful of Powder of Vitriol which I had in my Study and presently dissolv'd it As soon as the bloody Garter was brought me I put it in the Bason observing the while what Mr. Howel did who stood talking with a Gentleman in a corner of my Chamber not regarding at all what I was doing But he started suddenly as if he had found some strange alteration in himself I ask'd him what he ail'd I know not what ails me said he but I find that I feel no more pain me-thinks a pleasing kind of freshness as it were a wet cold napkin spread it self over my hand which hath taken away the inflammation that tormented me before I reply'd since then you feel already so good an effect of my medicament I advise you to cast away all your plaisters only keep the wound clean and in a moderate temper 'twixt heat and cold After dinner I took the Garter out of the water and put it to dry before a great fire It was scarce dry but Mr. Howel's servant came running to tell me that his Master felt as much burning as ever he had done if noâ— more for the heat was such as if his hand were betwixt coales of fire I anâ—wer'd that although that had hapned at present yet he should find ease in a short time for I knew the reason of this new accident and I would provide accordingly so that his Master should be free from that inflammation it may be before he could possibly return unto him but in case he found no ease I wish'd him to come presently back again if not he might forbear coming Away he went and at the instant I put again the Garter into the water therupon he found his Master without any pain at all To be brief there was no sense of pain afterward but within five or six days the wounds were cicatriced and entirely healed King Iames required a punctual information of what had passed touching this cure and after it was done and perfected his Majesty would needs know of me how it was done having droll'd with me first which he could do with a very good grace about a Magician and a Sorcerer I answer'd That I should be always ready to perform what his Majesty should command but I most humbly desired him before I should passe further that I might tell him what the Auâ—hour of whom I had the Secret said to the great Duke of Toscany upon the like occasion It was a Religious Carmelâ—te that came from the Indies and Persia to Florence he had also been at China who having done many marvellous cures with this Powder after his arrival to Toscany the Duke said he would be very glad to learn it of him It was the father of the Great Duke who governs now The Carmelite answer'd him That it was a Secret which he had learnt in the Oriental parts and he thought there was not any who knew it in Europe but himself and that it deserv'd not to be divulged which could not be hindred if his Highness would meddle with the practice of it because he was not likely to do it with his own hands but must trust a Surgeon or some other servant so that in a short time divers other would come to know it as well as himself But a few months after I had opportunity to do an important courtesie to the said â—ryar which induced him to discover unto me his Secret and the same year he return'd to Persia that now there is no other knows this Secret in Europe but my self The King replied That I needed not apprehend any fear that 〈◊〉 would discover it for he would not trust any body in the World to make experience of this Secret but do it with his own hands therfore he would have some of the Powderâ— which I deliver'd instructing him in all the circumstances Wherupon his Majesty made sundry proofs whence he reciv'd singular satisfaction In the Intâ—rim Dr. Mayerne his first Physician watch'd to discover what was done by this Secret and at last he came to know that the King made use of Vitriol Afterwards he accosted me saying he durst not demand of me my Secret because I made some difficulty to discover it to the King himself But having learnt with what matter it was to be done he hoped I would communicate to him all the circumstances how it is to be used I answer'd him That if he had asked me before I I would frankly have told him all for in his hands there was no fear that such a secret should be prostituted and so I told him all A little after the Doctor went into France to see some fair Territories he had purchased near Geneva which was the Barony of Aubonne In this voyage he went to see the Duke of Mayerne who had been a long time his friend and protector and he taught him this Secret wherof the Duke made many experiments which if any other but a Prince had done it may be they had passed for effects of Magick and enchantments After the Dukes death who was kill'd at the siege of Montauban his Surgeon who waited on him in doing cures sold this Secret to divers persons of Quality who gave him considerable sums for it so that he became very rich therby The thing being fall'n thus into many hands remain'd not long in termes of a Secret but by degrees came to be so divulged that now there is scarce any Country Barber but knows it Behold Sirs the genealogy of the Powder of Smpathy in this part of the World with a notable History of a cure perform'd by it 'T is time now to come to the discussion how it is done It must be avowed that 't is a marvellous thing that the hurt of a wounded person should be cured by the application of a remedy put to a rag of cloth or a weapon at a great distance Yet it is not to be doubted but after a long and profound speculation of all the oeconomy and concatenation of natural causes which may be adjudged capable to produce such effects one may fall at last upon the true ones which must have subtle resorts and means to act Hitherto they have been wrap'd up in darknesse and esteem'd so inaccâ—essible that they who have undertaken to speak or write of them at least those I have seen have been contented to speak of
some ingenious sleight without diving into the bottom endeavouring rather to shew the vivacity of their spirit and force of their eloquence than to satisfie their Readers and Auditors how the thing is really to be done They would have us take for ready mony some terms which we understand not nor know what they signifie They would pay us with conveniences with resemblances with Sympathies with Magnetical virtues and such terms without explicating what these terms mean They think they have done enough if they feebly perswade any body that the business may be performed by a natural way without having any recourse to the intervention of Demons and Spirits but they pretend not in any sort to have found out the convincing reasons which demonstrate how the thing is done If I did not hope to gain otherwise upon your spirits if I did not I say believe that I should be able to perswade you otherwise than by words I would not have underâ—aken this enterprize I know to well Quid valeâ—nt humeri quid ferre recusent Such a design requires a great fire and vivacity of conceptitions volubility of tongue aptness of expressions to insinnuate as it were by surprisal that which one cannot carry away by a firm foot by cold reasons though solid A Discourse of this nature challenges other than a Stranger who finds himself obliged to display his sense in a language wherein he can hardly express his ordinary conceptions Nevertheless these considerations shall not deterr me from engaging my self in an enterprize which may seem to some much more difficult than that which I am now to perform viz. to make good convincing proofs that this Sympathetical cure may be done naturally and to shew before your eyes and make you touch with your finger how it may be done You know that Perswasions are made by ingenious arguments which expressed with a good grace rather tickle the Imagination than satisfy the Understanding But demonstrations are built upon certain and approved principles and though they be but roughly pronounced yet they convince and draw after them necessary conclusions They proceed as a strong Engin fastned to a gate to batter it down or as a plate of metal to imprint the mark of the mony At every turn that truth makes she approaches but little and as it were insensibly and makes not much noise and there is no such great force required to turn her but her strength though it be slow is invincible That at the end she breaks down the gate and makes a deep impression on the pâ—ece of Gold or Silver Whereas the stroke of hammers and bars whereto witty discourses and the flourished conceptions of Subtile spirits may be compared requires the arm of a Giant makes a great noise and at the end of the account produces little effect To enter then into the matter I will according to the method of Geometrical Demonstrations lay Six or Seven Principles as foundation-stones wheron I will erect my Structure But I will lay them so well and so firmly that there shall be no great difficulty to grant them These Principles shall be like the wheels of Archimedes by the advantage wherof a child might be capable to hale on shore the bigest Carack of King Hieron which a hundred pair of Oxen with all the Ropes and Cables of his Arsenal were not able to stir So by the strength of these Principles I hope to wast my Conclusions to a safe Port. The First Principle shall be that the whole Oâ—be or Sphere of the Air is filled with Light If it were needful to prove in this point that Light is a material and corporal Substance and not an imaginary and incomprehensible Quality as many Schoolmen aver I could do it evidently enough but I have done this in another Tâ—eatise which hath been published not long since And it is no new opâ—nion for many of the most esteemed Philosophers among the Antients have advanced it yea the Great St. Augustine in his Third Epâ—stle to Volusian alledges that it is his sentiment But to our present business whether Lâ—ght be the one or the other it matters not t is enough to explicate its course and the journies it makes wherto our Senses bear witness T is clear that issuing continually out of its source the Suu and lancing it self by a marvailous celerity on all sides by straight lines where it encounters any obstacles in its way by the opposition of some hard or opaque body it reflects leaping thence to equal angles takes again its course by a straight line till it bandies upon some other solid body so it continues to make new boundings here there till at the end being chased on all sides by the bodies which oppose it in its passage 't is tired and so extinguishes In the like manner as we see a Ball in Tenis Court being struck by a strong arm against the walls leaps to the opposite side so that sometimes it makes the circuit of the whole Court finishes its motion near the place where it was first struck Our very eys are witnesses of this progress of the Light when by way of reflexion it illuminates some obscure place whither it cannot directly arrive Or when issuing immediatly from the Sun beating upon â—he Moon or some other of the Planets the ray's which cannot find entrance there bound upon our Earth otherwise we should not see them and there it is reflected broken bruised by so many bodies as it meets in its diversity of reflexions The Second Principle shal be that The Light glaâ—cing so upâ—n some body the rayes which enter no further but rebound from the superficies of the body carry with them some smal particles or atomes just as the Ball whereof we have spoken would carry with it some of the moisture of the wall against which'tis banded if the plaister therof were also moist as in effect it carryed away some tincture of the black wherwith the walls are coloured The Reason wherof is that the Light that subtil and rarified fire coming with such an imperceptible haste for its darts are within our eyes as soon as soon as its head is above our Horison making so many millions of miles in an inimaginable space of time I say the Light beating upon the body which opposes it cannot chuse but make there some small incisions proportionâ—ble to its rarity and subtility And these small Atomes being cut and loosned from their trunk the heat of the light sticks and incorporates it self wiâ—h the most humid viscuouâ— and glewing parts of them and carries them along with it Experience shews us this as well as Reason For when one puts some hâ—mâ—d cloth to dry before the fire the fiery rays beating theron those which find no entrance but reflâ—ct thâ—nce carry away with them some small moist bodies which make a kind of mist betwixt the cloth and the fire In like manner the Sun at his rising enlightning
to wit one year with Barley the next with Wheat the third with Beans and the fourth year they let it rest and dung it that it may recover its vigor by attraction of the vital spirit it receivs from the air and so be plow'd up again after the same degrees Now the year that the field is cover'd with Beans Passengers use to smell them at a good distance off if the wind blow accordingly and they be in flower It is a smell that hath a suavity with it but fading and afterwards is unpleasant and heady But the smell of Rosemary which comes from the coasts of Spain goes much further I have sail'd along those coasts divers times and observ'd always that the Mariners know when they are within thirty or forty leagues of the Continent I do not exactly remember the distance and they have this knowledge from the smell of the Rosemary which so abounds in the fields of Spain I have smelt it as senâ—ibly as if I had had a branch of Rosemary in my hand and this a day or two before we could discover land 't is true the wind was in our faces and came from the shore Some Naturalists write that Vultures have come two or three hundred leagus off by the smell of carrens and dead bodies left in the field after some bloody Battle and it was known that these Bâ—rds came from afar off because none used breed near They have a quick smelling and it must be that the rotten atoms of those dead Carcaffes were transported by the air so far and those Birds having once caught the scent pursue it to the very source and the nearer they come to that the stronger it is We will conclude here that which we had to say touching the great extent of those little Bodies which by the mediation of the Sun-beams and of the Light use to issue out of all Bodies that are composed of Elements which throng in the air and are carried a marvailous distance from the place and bodies where they have their origin and source the proof and explication of which things hath been the aim of my discourse hitherto Now my Lords I must if you please make you see how These small bodies that so fill and compound the Air are oftentimes drawn to a road altogether differing from that which their universal causes should make them hold and it shall be our Fifth Principlâ— One may remark within the course and oeconomy of Nature divers sorts of attractions As that of Sucking wherby I have seen leaden Bullets at the bottom of a long Barrel exactly wrought follow the air which one suck'd out of the mouth of the Gun with that impetuosity and strength that it broke his teeth The attraction of water or wine by a Scyphon is like to this for by means of that the liquor is made to pass from one Vessel into another without changing any way the colour or rising of the lees There is anoâ—her sort of attraction which is called Magnetical wherby the Loadstone draws the Iron Another Electrick when the Iet-stone draws to it Straws There is another of the Flame when the smoke of a Candle put out draws the flame of that which burns hard by and makes it descend to light that which is out There is another of Filtration when a humid body climbs up a dry Lastly when the Fire or some hot body draws the Air and that which is mixed therwith We will treat here of the two last species of Attraction I have sufficiently spoken of the rest in another place Filtration may seem to him who hath not attentively consider'd it nor examin'd by what circumstances so hidden a Secret of Nature comes to pass and to a person of a mean and limited understanding to be done by some occult virtue or property and he will perswade himself that within the Filtre or strayning instrument there is some secret Sympathy which makes Water to mount up contrary to its natural motion But he who will examine the business as it ought to be observing all that is done without omiting any circumstance will find there is nothing more natural and that it is impossible it should be otherwise And we must make the same judgment of all the profound and hidden'st mysteries of Nature if men would take the pains to discover them and search into them with judgment Behold then how Filtration is done They use to put a long toung of cloth or cotten or spongy matter within an earthen pot of Water or other liquor and leave hanging upon the brim of the pot a good part of the cloth and one shall see the water presently mount up and pass above the brink of the Vessel and drop at the lower end of the piece of cloth upon the ground or into some Vessel And the Gardners make use of this method to water their plants and flowers in Summer by soft degrees As also Apothecaries and Chymists to separate their liquors from their dregs and residences To comprehend the reason why the water ascends in that manner let us nearly observe all that is done That part of the cloth which is within the water becomes wetted viz. it receivs and imbibes the water through its spungy and dry parts at first This cloth swells in receiving the water so two bodies joyn'd together require more room than one of them would by it self Let us consider this swelling and augmented extension in the last thrid of them which touch the water viz. that on the superâ—icies which to distinguish from the rest let us mark at the two ends as by a line with A. B. and the third which immediately follows and is above it with C. D. the next with E. F. the next with G. H. and so to the end of the toung I say then that the thrid A B. dilating it self and swelling by means of the water which enters 'twixt it's fibres or strings approaches by little and little to C. D. which is yet dry because it touches not the water but when A. B. is grown so gross and swol'n by reason of the water which enters that it fills all the vacuity and distance 'twixt it and C. D. as also that it presses against C. D. by reason of it's extension which is greater than the space was betwixt them both then it wets C. D. because the thrid A. B. being compressed the exterior part of the water which was in it coming to be push'd on upon C. D. seeks there a place and enters within the thrids and wets them in the same manner as at first it 's exterior and highest part became wet C. D. being so wetted will dilate it self as A. B. did and consequently pressing against E. F. it cannot choose but work the same effect in it which before it had receiv'd by the swelling and dilatation of A. B. and so by gentle degrees every thrid wets its neighbor till the very last thrid of the cloth toung And it is
you cast this blanched Gold into the fire the heat chases and drives away the Mercury and the Gold returns to its former colour but if you repeat this often the Gold calcines and then you may pound and reduce it to powder Now there is no dissolvant in the World that can well calcine and burn the body of Gold but Quick-silver I speak of that which is already formed by Nature without engaging my self to speak of that which is talked of among the Secrets of Philosophy Take then a spoonful of Mercury in some porcelan or other dish and finger it with one hand if you have a Gold-Ring on the other hand it will become white and covered with Mercury though it doth not any way touch it Moreover if you take a leaf or a Crown of gold in your mouth and put but one of your toes in a Vessel where Mercury is the Gold in your mouth though you shut your lips never so close shall turn white and laden with Mercury then if you put the Gold in the fire to make all the Mercury evaporate and re-iterate this thing often your Gold will be calcin'd as if you had by amalgation joyn'd Mercury therwith corporally And all this will yet be done more speedily and effectually if in lieu of common Mercury you make use of Mercury of Antimony which is much hotter and more penetrating and though you drive it away by force of fire it will carry away with it a good quantity of the substance of the Gold that re-iterating often this operation there will no more Gold remain for you to continue your experiments If then cold Mercury doth so penetrate the whole body we ought not to think it strange that subtil atoms of fruit composed of many fiery parts wil pass with more facility and quickness I could further make you see how such Spirits Emanations suddenly also penetrateev'n steel though it be a substance so compacted cold and hard that the said atoms keep there residence their many months and years In a living body such as is Mans the intern Spirits aid and contribute much facility to the Spirits that are without such as those of Fruits are to make their journy to the Brain The great Architect of Nature in the fabrick of a Human Body the master piece of corporal nature hath placed there some intern Spirits to serve as Sentinels to bring their discoveries to their General the Imagination which is as it were the Mistress of the whole family wherby the man might know and understand what is done without his Kingdom in the great World and might shun what is noxious and seek after that which is profitable For these Sentinels or intern Spirits with all the inhabitants of the sensitive organs are not able to to judg alone insomuch that if the Imagination or thought be distracted strongly to some other object these intern Spirits do not know whether a man hath drunk the wine which he hath swaâ—low'd if perchance seeing a person who comes to salute him he fixes his eye upon him all the while or he listens attentively to the air of some melodious Song or musical Instrument The inward Spirits theâ—efore bring all their acquisitions to the Imagination and if she be not more strongly bent upon another object she falls a forming certain Idâ—as and Images for the atoms from without being convey'd by these intern Spirits to our imagination erect there the like edifice or else a model in short resembling the great body whence they come And if the Imagination hath no more use of those significative atoms for the present she ranges them in some proper place within her Magazin the Memory where she can recall and send them back when she pleases And if there be any object which causes some emotions in the Imagination and touches her nearer than common objects use to do she sends back her Sentinels the internal Spirits upon the Confines to bring her more particular news Hence it proceeds that being surprized by some particular person or other object that has already some eminent place in his Imagination be it with desire or aversion man suddenly changes colour and becomes now red then pale then red again at divers times according as the Ministers which are those intern Spirits go quick or slow towards their object and return with their reports to their Mistress which is the Imagination But besides these passages we speak of from the brain to the external parts of the body by the ministry of the nerv's there is also a great road from the Brain to the Heart by which the vital spirits ascend from the Heart to the Brain to be animated and hereby the Imagination sends to the Heart those atoms which she hath receiv'd from some external object And there they make an ebullition among the vital Spirits which according to the intervening atoms either cause a dilatation of the Heart and so gladden it or contract it and so sadden it and these two differing and contrary actions are the first general effects whence proceed afterwards the particular Passions which require not that I pursue them too far in this place having done it more particularly else where and more expresly Besides these passages which are common to all Men and Women there is another that 's peculiar only to females which is from the Brain to the Matrix wherby it often falls out that such violent vapours mount up to the Brain and those in so great a number that they often hinder the operation of the Brain and Imagination causing convulsions and follies with other strange accidents and by the same channel the Spirits or atoms pass with a greater liberty and swiftness to the womb or Matrix when the case requires Now le ts consider how the strong Imagination of one mâ—n doth marvailously act upon another man who hath it more feeble and passive We see daily that if a person gape those who see him gaping are excited to do the same If one fall in company with persons that are in a fit of laughter he can hardly forbear laughing though he knows not why they laugh or if one enters into an house where all the World is sad he becomes melancholy Women and Children being very moist and passive are most susceptible of this unpleasing contagion of the Imagination I have known a very melancholy woman which was subject to the disease called the Mother and while she continued in that mood she thought her self possessed and did strange things which among those that knew not the cause passed for supernatural effects and of one possessed by the ill spirit she was a person of quality and all this hap'ned through the deep resentment she had for the death of her Husband She had attending her four or five young Gentlewomen wherof some were her Kinswomen and others serv'd her as Chamber-maids All these came to be possessed as she was and did prodigious actions These young Maids were